Reporting Credit Card Fraud to Protect Yourself and Others

You think you may have misplaced your card and it may possibly be at home somewhere. You do nothing, thinking you will come across it. Then you quickly realize that this is not the case when your credit card bill comes in and there are charges that you could not have possibly made because your "card is in the house somewhere." Though this is the worst case scenario, this does happen very frequently. Once your bill arrives and you see the unauthorized charges you should be on the phone immediately reporting credit card fraud. In today's poor economy, criminal acts are becoming more of a problem.

At the first sign of not having your card available to you, whether you think it is somewhere in your home or not, you should definitely be reporting credit card fraud and calling all the businesses where you might normally use it. Another form of credit card fraud is what they call application fraud. The perpetrator uses your credit card information to apply for loans, buy cars and can make huge purposes. You must also call any department stores and report a possible stolen card to them as well. The criminal can take your credit card, go to the department store and use the identity information they managed to steal and also make purchases there as well. This is the time to protect yourself. An important paper that you should have on hand is all your credit card numbers, telephone numbers to call to report a lost or stolen card, all department store telephone numbers and any other numbers that may be important to protect your finances and most importantly, your identify.

So to summarize, first you should have the telephone numbers of all the card issuers and/or department stores on paper and placed somewhere safe but with easy access. Most card companies have an 800 number to call 24 hours a day to report a lost or stolen card. While you might think this is a lot of trouble at the time, it is so very worthwhile. You must protect yourself at all times. Take the time to write all these numbers down, keep them in a place to which you have quick and easy access and get on the phone immediately to report the crime. In the long run, it will be well worth the short time it takes to do this for yourself and future potential victims.

Article By Louis, CardKudos[dot]com

Find out more tips about reporting credit card fraud to protect your financial life as well as related credit card articles such as credit card comparison at Cardkudos.com.